Swinner Gill and Crackpot Hall, Keld

The waterfall at Swinner Gill

How to walk to Swinner Gill and Crackpot Hall

1. Starting at the car park in Keld, head out of the car park exit and head straight across the road (there are houses to your left). On the other side is the information board about Keld and a signpost. Head on the track going straight on.

2. After a very short distance, turn left. The path heads steeply downwards on a partly flagged track towards the footbridge. You will hear the thundering water of the waterfall of East Stonesdale. Check it out, it’s a great paddle spot! (heads up, you’ll pass it again on the way back if you prefer!)

3. At the end of the footbridge, turn left and take the path that heads upwards steeply round to the right. At the top you will find a T-Juntion. Turn right.

4. This bit is easy now! Continue on the wide stony track until you reach the ruins of an old farm building to your right. Just ahead of this, the path splits. There are the remains of an old vehicle at the fork (see the picture above!) At the vehicle, there is a path that heads upwards straight away on the far left. If you want to see Crackpot Hall, you need to ignore this for the minute (you’ll re-join it in a bit), head on the lower track for a few seconds, and then that will also split into two. Now, you need to take the upper left track.

5. This track takes you to the ruins of Crackpot Hall (it has a cracking story, pardon the pun! Check it out below!) Explore them! They are an absolute snapshot into the past.

6. Once you have taken a look at Crackpot Hall, you need to head up the hill. There are many beaten pathways, so it’s difficult to discern, but upwards and north of the ruins is a good indicator. You will meet the wide stony track you ignored earlier after half a minute or so, and you need to turn right onto that.

7. You will pass another ruined farm building on your left (check out the history of this place below!) But continue to follow the path as it continues round to the left.

8. The path after Crackpot Hall is clear. But I will warn you that it can be a little narrow in places, and there are steep unguarded drops. At the time of walking I went with my 8 and 6 year old, who managed it far more competently than I did, but this is absolutely a walking boot job, you will need the grip! This being a linear walk, if you’d rather avoid this section, you can turn back from Crackpot Hall, but you will miss the Swinner Gill Waterfall.

9. Follow the clear route along the edge of Buzzard Scar, and just soak up those views. This part of the Dales is the most rugged I think I’ve encountered. It’s truly spectacular, and very, very peaceful. You will soon see the ruins of the lead mines and the epic waterfall of Swinner Gill to your right. The path heads down to the footbridge, which I think used to be an old packhorse bridge for the mines. Choose your route carefully, there is a little fork before you get to the bridge, choose the lower right hand fork, or you’ll end up sliding on your bum on scree like I did. (Hilarious for the kids who nipped down it with no trouble, but not great for the bum of my trousers!)

10. This is your furthest point. EXPLORE! There are ruins, there is an epic waterfall, but we’re talking the middle of nowhere here, and the waterfall is not easy to get up close to. In wet weather it may well be completely impossible and so you’ll just have to check it out from a distance. We visited in the middle of a dry Summer and were able to get down on the far side of the pack horse bridge. We walked along the dry bed of the beck and explored the pools that way. Bear in mind that in wet weather it will probably not be easy to get to unless you get wet. The banks are steep and may well also get muddy. If you head down, plan your route back out before you even try getting down! (Mum bit over!)

11. I do like this bit about linear walks….. turn round and head back the way you came! This is one of those walks where I am happy to leave it as a ‘there and back again’ walk. The views there and back are completely different and there is so much interest that it doesn’t get boring (remind them of that steering wheel and the waterfall at the end if you need to!)

Last walked August 2022

The ruins of Crackpot Hall

The pools below Swinner Gill Waterfalls

The archway under the packhorse bridge